Legacy Motor Club keeps Erik Jones in No. 43 Toyota with multiyear extension
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Legacy Motor Club will keep its longest-tenured NASCAR Cup Series driver in the fold next season and beyond, signing Erik Jones to a multiyear contract extension as driver of its No. 43 Toyota.
The team made the announcement Sunday morning at Kansas Speedway, where Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will mark the fourth of 10 races in The Chase presented by Mobil 1. The core of the No. 43 group will stay intact, with Justin Alexander also set to return as Jones' crew chief.
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Jones is in his sixth season with the No. 43 team, and he described the negotiating period with Legacy management as "really straightforward," with team leadership reaffirming its commitment to its longest-serving driver. The 30-year-old Michigan native says he's found a comfort level with the organization, which will grow to a three-car operation in 2027.
"I mean, it would definitely feel weird walking in somewhere else, I guess, is the best way to look at it," Jones said with a grin. "When I go to the shop and see the group and see the shop floor and the people there, it definitely feels comfortable to me and feels like I belong there. At the end of the day, I've been one of the longer-standing ones there, so feeling, I guess, just appreciated and respected and needed and wanted at a company always feels good, and I have that in Legacy right now. So yeah, it feels like home to me."
The description of "longer-standing" feels apt for Jones, who began his stint with the No. 43 team under the Richard Petty Motorsports banner with ties to Chevrolet. The team's entries are now Toyotas, and the organization morphed from Petty GMS to Legacy Motor Club as shifts in ownership changed the team's dynamic, with seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson taking the reins and bringing in a host of strategic partners.
More change is due next season with the addition of a third chartered entry on the Cup Series grid, and two new teammates for Jones as Josh Berry and Riley Herbst come on board. The seemingly lone constant amid all the overhauls is Jones, who continues his link to one of the sport's most iconic car numbers.
"To say it's not been a bit chaotic at times would probably be untruthful," said Jones, who arrived to drive for a lightly funded, single-car No. 43 team in 2021. "... There were maybe 30 people that worked at the shop at that time, and I think there's two or three of us that are still with the company now. So it's a lot different than what it was the first day I walked in that shop, but it's all been stuff that's been to try to make the program better. ...
"With everything we have going on, it's going in a good direction. It's still got obviously room to go and room to grow, and we're growing with this Next Gen car each and every year. Everybody, especially the top teams, get a little better, and we're just trying to keep with that escalation as everybody improves, but yeah, it's definitely been a lot of change. I hope that we can get settled in. I feel like there's ... I have a long time I can race if I want to, and I do want to right now, so being with one group for that time for the next stretch would be great for me."
Legacy Motor Club's pending expansion will mean more work to establish the third team, but Jones says he sees performance positives to be made from the growth. Jones ranks 21st in the Cup Series standings, six spots ahead of outgoing teammate John Hunter Nemechek heading into Sunday's race at Kansas, but foresees the benefits of information sharing providing a lift once a new-look Legacy M.C. lineup takes flight.
"Adding a third car in is huge for us," Jones said. "We, as a company, only have our two data points right now, and having one more is a help, and it's going to continue to help us get better. So finding all the right matches for everybody is never easy, and I hope next year we can get the ball rolling, and everybody's happy with where they're at, and this can be a lineup that we have for a while."
Jones will also welcome some continuity atop the No. 43 pit box as he seeks to end a seven-year postseason drought. Alexander assumed the crew chief role at the start of the season, bringing a wealth of experience from his long-running tenure at Richard Childress Racing, where he produced five Cup Series wins while paired with Austin Dillon.
Jones said he wasn't particularly close with Alexander before their partnership began. Since then, he's discovered that his crew chief favors an easy, open line of communication, one that's rooted in honesty and a shared level of respect.
"We both believe in each other," Jones said. "We both know our abilities. We're both comfortable that we're trying to be the best we can each week, and that we're doing the work to show up and be ready to go when we get to the track. There's never felt like there's any doubt in that, and we're always on the same page most of the time about where we're trying to head with competition, what our struggles are. I feel like we're honest about that, from whether that's a struggle that we're trying to get better at personally on competition, or if it's something as a company that we need to improve on, I feel like we're always pretty close on those pages. So that part's been great, and just the communication, really."